Whattup everybody? Welcome to another week of album sales. This one was particularly interesting for “indie” hip-hop… let’s check it out:

Album Sales Week of 6/23:

Willy Northpole“Tha Connect” – 2,498 (wow… Def Jam)

Dead Prez“Pulse of the People” – 2,020

U-God“Dopium” – 1,025

Grand Puba“Retroactive” – 948

Soul Assassins(Muggs)“Intermission” – 632

Sa-Ra“Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love” – 588

All in all, very interesting. Willy Northpole, who was promoted like CRAZY via Def Jam, sold 500 more units than Dead Prez, who were put out on an indie. Sa-Ra (who some of you may know as members of the avant garde black hipster kanye crew) did over 3,000 units first week in 2007, and now, they did 588. It’s just a rough game these days…

A Swedish software firm bought the site and the domain… they claim they’re undertaking a new business model which will compensate copyright owners… let’s keep a close eye on this one. Is PirateBay going to be the next Napster? turning in it’s rebel flag for subscription fees? we’ll just have to wait and see.

Wow. Vibe Media Group. Rap City. The seminal urban publication founded by Quincy Jones in ’93 joins the ranks of Blender, King, and half of the local newspapers in the country. Here’s a few links to details.

How could I write a music business and industry news blog and not mention the death of Michael Jackson. The link above is by far the most interesting article that I’ve read on the whole situation. Written by a journalist who’s had extremely inside access (pause)… worth checking out. Not to mention the fact that this guy owned the charts this week, selling 440,000 units in the last week (almost double what he did in the previous year) and owning the digital world, with the top 4 digital albums on the billboard charts.

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